Machine credential permissions

Once created, a machine credential has full permissions. If required, a principal authority or authorisation administrator can customise these permissions in the agency’s Access Manager service.

Some agencies may have further requirements before machine credential permissions can be customised. Refer to the agency’s Access Manager service for more information. For example, ATO – Access Manager for business software users.

Machine credential expiry

A machine credential is valid for 2 years.

The machine credential custodian is notified at their current business email listed in RAM at 60 days, 30 days and 7 days before expiry. The machine credential custodian is the person who created or claimed the credential.

If the custodian is no longer authorised, the other MCAs will be notified. Principal authorities will be notified if there are no MCAs for the business.

Alternatively, to check the expiry date:

• Select View or manage authorisations, machine credentials and cloud software notifications.
• Select Manage credentials.
• Select Status.
• View the Valid to date.

The Valid to date cannot be extended.

To ensure continued access:

• as a digital service provider, you can incorporate a renewal function in your software
• if your software doesn’t have a renewal function, create a new machine credential using the same credential name – do this at any time before the expiry date. 

How to revoke a machine credential

• Select My authorisations.
• Select the business name you would like to revoke the machine credential from.
• Select Manage Credentials.
• Find the machine credential you want to revoke and select Revoke.
• You will need to confirm that you want to revoke the credential, select Continue.
• A success message will appear. Select Continue and you will return to the Manage credentials tab – the machine credential will now show a status of revoked.

Once revoked, you will not be able to use or reinstate the machine credential.

Unassigned machine credentials

If a principal authority or authorisation administrator removes the role or authorisation of an MCA, the machine credential becomes ‘unassigned’. It will display as ‘Suspended’ in RAM but remain active for 60 days from the date of removal.

When a machine credential becomes unassigned, all other MCAs will receive a notification via email to claim the unassigned machine credential and become responsible for its continued use. If there are no other MCAs associated with that business, then the Principal Authority will be the recipient of this email. Reminder emails will be sent at 30 days and 53 days if the machine credential has still not been claimed. If a machine credential is not claimed within 60 days, the status will change to ‘Revoked’.

To claim an unassigned machine credential:

• Select View or manage authorisations, machine credentials and cloud software notifications from the home menu.
• Select the business name you would like to claim the machine credential for
• Select Manage Credentials.
• Find the machine credential you want to claim, select Edit then Claim credential.
• A success message will appear.
• Select Continue to return to Manage credentials – the machine credential status will be ‘Active’.

My cloud software services

My cloud software services lets you notify government agencies about the cloud-based software you will be using to interact with them.

Currently, My cloud software services can only be used with the Office of the Student Identifiers Registrar, Department of Education, Skills and Employment.

You need to be a principal authority or authorisation administrator to add and manage notifications in RAM. Your digital service provider may also request the notification which needs to be accepted before it becomes active. This does not mean they can act online on behalf of your business.

If you're a digital service provider who would like to be recognised as a Unique Student Identifier (USI) provider. See more about authentication and authorisation.

Find out about

• How to add a notification
• How to request a notification (digital service providers only)
• How to accept a notification
• How to edit a notification
• How to remove a notification

How to add a notification

To add a notification, you need:

• the name and Australian business number (ABN) of your digital service provider
• the unique software ID (10-digit number) provided by your digital service provider.

You then:

• select the business you are sending the notification for
• select Manage notifications then Add notification
• select the digital service provider
• type the
  • unique software ID – select Add another if more than one software ID is supplied
  • start date – this can’t be back dated
  • end date – this field defaults to ‘No end date’, you can include an end date if required.
• select the agency you wish to access (currently only available for Office of the Student Identifiers Registrar)
• check the details are correct, accept the declaration and select Submit.

How to request a notification (digital service providers only)

To request a notification for a user:

• select Manage notifications then My Clients
• select Request notification
• enter the ABN of the user and click the Search icon - details of the client will display
• select Continue and type the
  • software ID for the user
  • start date – this can’t be back dated
  • end date – this field defaults to ‘No end date’, you can include an end date if required
  • select Continue
• select the agency you wish to notify (currently only available for Office of the Student Identifiers Registrar)
• select Continue.

A confirmation message will display advising that you have successfully requested a notification and the requested notification will appear as pending until it is accepted by the user.

How to accept a notification

To accept a notification:

• select the business with the pending notification
• select Manage notifications and locate the notification with the ‘Pending’ status and select Edit
• check the following details are correct (these will be pre-filled)
  • name of the digital service provider
  • Software ID – select Add another if more than one software ID is supplied
  • start and end dates
  • agency to notify (currently only available for Office of the Student Identifiers Registrar)
• accept the declaration and select Submit.

How to edit a notification

To edit a notification:

• select the business you want to edit the notification for
• locate the notification and select Edit
• edit the following fields as required
  • Software ID – select Add another if more than one Software ID was supplied
  • start and end dates
• accept the declaration and select Submit.

How to remove a notification

To remove a notification:

• select the business you want to remove the notification for
• locate the notification to remove and select Edit
• select Remove.